Apparatus for obtaining gas from wells.



A. S. COOPER. APPARATUS POR OBTAINING GAS PROM WELLS. AryLloA'rIoN FILED JAN. 13,1910.

1,000,669 rammed-Aug. 15,1911.

the larger the ,ments in Apparatus for Obtaining AUGUSTUS STEIGER COOPER, OF LOS OLIVOS, CALIFORNIA.

- ArPAPLATUs'Fon OBTAINING GAS rnoivr WELLS.V

Speeication of Letters Patent. Patented Aug.

' Appneanon inea January 13, 1910.' serial No. 537,861.

To all whomfz't may concern: 1 Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS. STEIGER COOPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Olivos, insthe county of Santa Barbara and State' of California, have invented certain new and useful Improve- Gras from Wells,l of which the following is a specification.

My invention 'relates to apparatus for the recovery ofv gas from wells.

Natural gas-, which under pressure of a, column of liquid, .whether of water or oil or both, is held in solution in said liquid, will be liberated by a decrease lof pressure. as the liquid -either flows -oris pumped-toward the surface of the well. lThis is in accordance with the lawthat 'the greater the pressure, volume offg'a's' held in solution byy aliquid. This vliberation of -the gas in flowing wells is thus to be expected and its recovery needs the intervention of no art other than that required'for-v its collection.

' But where wells have ceased to low, or have umn and will not, therefore,

never been iowing wells, and the 'gas is held' in solution by thep'ressure of the liquid-colfree itself, it has been foundthat it will be liberated if the pressurebe decreased bylifting or pumpingthe liquidto thev surface of the well. For

amountofliquid can, made to' increase their by these means, be flow of gas in proportion to 'the increased iow' of the liquid, -due to the ilifting or pumping.

For the purpose of raising the liquidto L the surface, the lair-lift, for many reasons is .well adapted.-'..This consists, as is well known', of -air introduced ,under pressure bealiquid column inthe up-lift or` flow` neath In the usual arrangement of the a'irpipe.

l lift, the intake" being at the bottom of the portion of the well,

to take that liquidl which holdsA in solution column,l the liquid is drawn from the lower the result of which is the greatest vqlume. of gas `and lift it through the flow pipe -to the surface'and thus liberate the gas, But this has the dis-v advantage of contaminating the gas with air and renderingI it useless, .so thatit has been found that an air-lift as common Y is not practicable.

At one time, I devised amethod of utilizing the principle of the air-lift, but in order less proceeded, by directing.

different manner or relation destined use.

ly arranged y to avoid the. deleterious effect of ,miXingthe air with the gas, I used for the lift, the natural gas itself, which I` obtainedb as the procrecovered, to the compresser for use in the lift, the surplus being takenfor general use, as will be seen by,reference to my Patent No. 753,045, dated Fay.A 2s, i904.

My present invention contemplates the use of the `air-lift; but applied in a wholly from that of its'fcommon application and arrangement, whereby I..am able to t-ake'for and subject A to `the air-lift theliquid from the upper portion of the well,

from which -liquid the gas has been liberatedby'the decrease of pressure. By so doing,lI cause a constant movement ofthev liquid in portion, where itliberates the gas, proceeds downagain practically free .of gas, in anothercolumn, to the air-lift.v Tbiere 'is thus no gas to be contaminated byl the aire lift,}the function of which isfully subserved by causing `the Aupward movement in the main'body of'liquid inthe well to a pointl where, by decrease of pressure, its gas-will be liberated and will flow naturally from the upper portion of the capped well, to its My invention. will be more/fully understood by 'reference' 'to the accompanying drawingsin .which- Figure 1 is a vertical section ,ofthe apparatus. Fig. -2 is a vertical-section. showing a sl'ght constructive modification.

' 1 is the well.A

2 is the -columnorvbody of either...

v'vater or oil or both,'in the well.l I

B is the flow pi e leading from near the bottom of the we l,through its cap above, to a. suitabledelivery;-

,'-4fis' an air pipe, leading froma suitable compessor,'not shown, down throughzthe well cap,.`into1the.well and to near tsbottom'where it is upturned into the lower'end of the" flow-pipe. Ifthiswere all of the apparatus,

liquid, from its gas inv solution,

the bottom of Vthe wellv andA lift pipe to lief of pressure, the gas would be liberated.. But under such processthe -lgas' would be useless, becauselof being'mixed'with the air used in-the lift. To carry out-mypresent part of the gas the-well, to the upper and then the process wouldbe to draw the through the flow y the surface, where, owing to the re- Theliquid nearly freed from tgas will 'descend' in sle'eve or pipe invention, I introduceinto the apparatus a l' to the relief ordecrease 4of pressure above,

down-talre column, formed either a's in Fig. l, by a sleeve '5, which surrounds the flow pipe, or as :in-Fig. 2, by a separate vpipe 6.

'These .open near the upper part of-,the hquidv column in the well, and at their lower end thelower end ofthe'flow pipev introduced through said cap or elbow', l

It will` now be seen thatinstead'of drawu top of the` mam-liquid column 2.- Owing the gas is liberated into the top of'theryell andwill ow oflfor use vthrough a pipe 9.

6 as the' case may' be and be raised-l to.the surface by the'airy AWithout Contact lift, through the"y flowl method of drawing fromthe top instead of from `the bottom, the gas mayzbe vrecovered with the air-lift. If desired amore complete'separation of the gas mayv 'f be had by i establishing a partial vacuum 'in the upper part' ofthe well l v Havmgthus described my invention what endto Y liquid column in said well, a second contin. uously'open.pipe,1the yupper end of which is open to theliquid of vthe upper portion of ing from the bottom of the column the liqv said liquid column and` thencev extending uid, asshown by the arrows, isf-drawn from- `the upperpart-of said column.- The effect of'this is' that there i-sfaconstant movement of liquid inl the well from vthe bottom tothe portionof.` the liquid column, tendingfrom a sorce of air `pressure downl pipe By'vv this I claim as newand desire An apparatus for the recovery of gas from wells consisting of 'a well. casing provided above the liquid columnwith a gas outlet, of a continuously open ijlow pipe extending V-do-wn froml the surface of-V the well to the y vicinity of its' bottom and closed-at its'.lower the liquid of the lower portion of the down in the well, its lower end communicating with the lower end of the How-pipe to deliver thereto. liquid onlyfrom-the upper into the Well and'pr'ovided at litsllower. end

'with an upturned .portionprojecting into the'lower end of the flow pipeand adapted vto deliver a lstream of air'under pressure In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speeicationvinthe twoy subscribing witnesses.

to secure I Let- 55 presence of 'AUGUSTUS s TnIGER COOPER Witnesses: f 'DALLAS D., Dnvis,

DANIEL S. BnAN'r. 

